What's it going to take?

Ps 51 - David's Repentance.

"Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions."

Let's not be too smug in our self righteousness. We are all sinners, some are as lost as can be, others are forgiven, but we are all still sinners. It is the nature of the bodies which house our souls.

King David, the man after God's own heart, has committed some of the most egregious sins imaginable - sloth, lust, adultery, deceit and murder. For a year, his soul has been rotting under the guilt of hypocrisy. I wonder if he had been in regular attendance at the services at the tabernacle. I imagine he had been singing the songs of Zion from a half heart as his wickedness had separated him from intimate fellowship with his God.

And then, one fateful day as timing, his misery, God's sovereignty and providence and the Prophet's chutzpah would have it, reckoning came to pass. The prophet Nathan stuck his nose in where David may have thought it didn't belong. He also stuck his long bony finger into the king's chest and said, "Thou art the man!"

Why, the holy audacity! Heads have rolled for much less. But God's man has to do God's bidding. And, thank God he was faithful. This is what it took to restore the sweet Psalmist of Israel to a right relationship with God.

I remind you, none of us are immune to our common enemy. We sin, most of us daily and possibly even more often that that. When we realize that sin is defined as the things we think, say and do that break God's law, we know that we are all miserable sinners.

My question today is, what's it going to take for us to get right with God? The burden of having broken the Savior's heart? The reality of our guilt for breaking His commands? The sorrow of having our own lives broken by the consequences of our sin? Perhaps the man of God breaking through our privacy barrier to confront us with our offense?

God may use any of these methods, or a combination thereof. But in any case, it is the goodness of God that leadeth us to repentance.

Thank God that He never gives up on His own. He won't put up with us willfully staying out of fellowship with Him. He will do what it takes to bring the Prodigal back home.

If you are away from the Lord right now, what's it going to take to get you right with God?